Siebert hires UBS’ Belinfanti Knight as managing director in California

Andrew Belinfanti Knight has been hired by Siebert Williams Shank as a managing director of public finance, the firm announced on Wednesday. A 16-year veteran of the municipal bond sector, he will work out of the firm’s Los Angeles office.

Belinfanti Knight has worked on over $20 billion of senior managed transactions in municipal finance and is known for client relationships and quantitative analysis.

He spent the past six years as executive director of public finance at UBS, where he was in charge of day-to-day banking coverage of local and state entities issuing municipal bonds in the Western region.

He also conducted credit rating analysis of cities, counties, schools and community colleges, helping the firm build its public finance business in California.

Prior to this, he was director of public finance at Wells Fargo for eight years, where he helped increase the company’s presence in the Golden State.

Belinfanti Knight will lead SWS’ coverage of K-14 education municipal bond issuers, which includes public school districts and community colleges in California and the West.

“Our firm is committed to expanding in regions and sectors with robust muni issuances and we view the K-14 market in California to be a great intersection of such,” said Gary Hall, SWS president of infrastructure and public finance.

“Given his high regard for technical excellence, I am looking forward to Andrew elevating our value proposition to new and existing school district and community college issuers in the West Region.”

Belinfanti Knight will be able to use his relationships with numerous state and local entities to help drive SWS’ continued growth in the public school financing space, a major point of emphasis for the firm in 2024.

Belinfanti Knight will join three bankers already working in the firm’s Los Angeles office, led by Grace Yuen, managing director and head of the West region.

“We are very excited to have Andrew join our team and elevate our presence in the K-14 educational sector in California and throughout the West Coast,” Yuen said. ”His knowledge about the sector will be invaluable as we continue to serve our clients and grow our footprint in the region.”

Belinfanti Knight, who earned an MBA in finance from Howard University, started his career in mortgage-backed securities before transitioning to public finance.

He has lived in Los Angeles since 2008, when he was an associate of public finance for Banc of America Securities.

“The execution that I’ve seen from Siebert Williams Shank and the rapid growth of the firm over the past few years is a major attraction,” Belinfanti Knight said.

“The most important thing for me is to be part of a firm that’s 100% committed to the municipal bond industry and with Siebert this is their core business, so that speaks for itself,” he said.

Siebert Williams Shank ranked 13th as lead bookrunner on 72 muni bond deals in 2023 totaling $10.4 billion, a 2.9% market share. It is the largest minority- and women-owned investment bank in the United States and is headquartered in both New York and Oakland.

In January, Siebert formed a six-person quantitative solutions group headed by public finance industry veteran Giles Nicholson who had been head of UBS’ quantitative strategies group.

Also in January, SWS hired Allan Katz to be its chief financial officer. He came from Guggenheim Securities, where he also served as CFO.

Public education has become the focus for other muni firms as well.

Last month, broker-dealer Baird launched a California public finance group and hired veteran banker John Baracy as a managing director and the California K-12 market lead.